When we hear the term "heart disease", then usually there are associations - arteriosclerosis of the vessels, increased cholesterol, old age and stress.
However, there are such cardiac ailments that have nothing to do with all these concepts. These include posmiocardic cardiosclerosis.
To understand more precisely what it is - postmyocardial cardiosclerosis, first you need to explain the terms - myocarditis and cardiosclerosis.
Development of
Myocarditis in cardiology is called inflammation of the heart muscle. Cardiosclerosis - pathological lesions of the muscular tissue of the heart, replacement of its connective scar tissue. Thus, postmiocardiac cardiosclerosis is cardiosclerosis, which developed as a result of myocarditis
.A synonymous, shorter name for this disease is myocardiosclerosis.Causes and Risk Factors of
The causes of myocarditis that can lead to this disease are fairly well understood and have a very wide spectrum. These include the following factors:
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Infectious :
- viral( SARS, influenza, chicken pox, rubella);
- bacterial( scarlet fever, tonsillitis, diphtheria, pneumonia).
Microorganisms such as protozoa, helminths, spirochaetes, fungi can also cause inflammatory heart lesions.
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Allergic ( after vaccination and drug therapy).
The probability of immune response response is the use of antibiotics, cytostatics, anti-tuberculosis and anticonvulsants, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
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System .
As a result of common connective tissue diseases of the whole body( rheumatism, polyarthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, etc.).
- Toxic ( uremic myocarditis).
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Idiopathic .
Unexplained by modern medicine the causes, which have characteristic clinical manifestations.
Myocarditis, caused by allergic and systemic causes, is a rapid progression of sclerotic changes.
Also distinguish acute, subacute, latent, recurrent and chronic ( continuing more than six months) course of the disease. It is the chronic inflammation of the heart most often leads to the occurrence of myocardiosclerosis.
This disease affects all age categories, including children and adolescents .A special risk group should be allocated to children and the elderly.
Classification
Postmiocardial cardiosclerosis can occur in two forms - focal and diffuse.
The focal( scar) form of is most typical for this disease. Her heart muscle is partially affected. Individual foci of change can have a variety of forms and locations.
In diffuse, most severe form, sclerotic changes in the heart tissues are distributed evenly.
Dangers and complications
Healthy muscle tissue has good elasticity and contractility. Replacing it with elements of scar tissue that does not participate in contraction leads to an increase in the heart load of the .
Focal myocardiosclerosis of the heart can occur asymptomatically .However, even if small single sites of the affected tissue are located on the conducting sections or near the sinus node, this entails the possibility of arrhythmia.
The development of sclerotic changes causes initially compensatory hypertrophy and myocardial dilatation of .When the hypertrophied reserve is exhausted, the contractility decreases and heart failure develops.
Scarring processes in the valves lead to the development of insufficiency and deformation of the heart valves. The larger the area of the heart muscle is affected by the pathological process, the higher the risk of cardiac abnormalities.
Symptoms and signs
With mild forms of myocarditis, the body itself can cope with the disease without causing any clinical manifestations. Peculiar symptom, similar to many heart diseases , appears in the patient already at the stage of development of sclerotic lesions of the myocardium.
In the initial stage, arrhythmia, low blood pressure, heart murmur and poor conductivity of may occur. With the development of the disease, when the degree of dissemination of scar tissue in relation to healthy tissue increases, the symptomatology begins to increase.
Patient may be concerned:
- shortness of breath and a feeling of lack of air during exercise,
- fast fatigue and systematic weakness,
- increased sweating,
- pain in the heart,
- various arrhythmias( atrial fibrillation and extrasystole),
- tachy- or bradycardia,
- pressure,
- systolic murmur( when auditioned by a physician),
- cough after dyspnea( usually manifested at night),
- swelling of extremities and abdominal cavity,
- pallor of the skin,
- cold extremities,
- pre-occlusive states.
Since many of the symptoms are common in other heart conditions, the is very important in a timely manner to detect this disease. Only an experienced doctor, after conducting a series of special tests and examinations, can diagnose postmiocardial cardiosclerosis. Therefore, it is important for a systematic appearance of these symptoms to consult a cardiologist.
Diagnostics
When listening to a patient, weakened heart tones and heart sounds .Blood pressure can be normal or decreased.
Additional laboratory and clinical research methods help differentiate myocardiosclerosis with other cardiac diseases with similar symptoms:
- Radiography of the chest shows a uniform increase in the size of the heart.
- On , the ultrasound of the heart of determines the thickening of the myocardial walls in the entire heart or in individual areas. The cavities of the heart( more often on the right side) are enlarged. In later stages, the valves do not overlap the communicating cavities, when necessary, and the blood backwards, which can also be determined by echocardiography.
- The electrocardiogram reveals cardiac impulse disturbances at different levels of its occurrence and conduction. Diffuse changes are noted, more often expressed in the right ventricle.
- Using radionuclide diagnostics , it is possible to identify areas of nonviable myocardium( scar tissue).
- Biochemical blood counts of usually remain normal. To distinguish postmiocardial cardiosclerosis from postinfarction and atherosclerotic allows the absence of an increase in the indices of lipoproteins and cholesterol in the biochemical analysis of blood.
Tactics of treatment
The first symptoms of the disease appear at the stage when the structure of the myocardial tissue is already changed. Regression of this process is impossible to achieve. Therapy for myocardiosclerosis is aimed at slowing the formation of connective tissue and improving heart function.
The main in terms of treatment should be to identify and eliminate the factors that caused inflammation of the myocardium .If the cause is in an infectious disease, antibiotic or antiviral therapy is used, depending on the type of pathogen. In the case of systemic manifestations, the underlying disease is treated. Allergic causes require mandatory removal of the allergen.
Along with this, prescribe drugs that normalize the heart activity. In medicamental therapy of the most terrible complication of cardiosclerosis, heart failure, , the following agents are used: diuretics, cardiac glycosides, vasodilators, antioxidants.
Along with medical therapy to reduce the load on the heart recommended restriction of physical exertion and special diet.
Cardiac arrhythmias are corrected with the help of antiarrhythmic drugs .
In the case of severe bradycardia, an implantation of a pacemaker is required, a special device that sets the rhythm of the heart with the help of electrical impulses. If there is an aneurysm of the heart, surgical intervention may be necessary.
The most difficult option for the development of postmiocardiac cardiosclerosis is the indication for heart transplantation .Interesting scientific research is conducted today in the treatment of cardiosclerosis with stem cells, but due to the high cost and ambiguity of results, the wide application of this technique remains in question.
Forecasts and prevention measures
To prevent postmiocardial cardiosclerosis, it should be remembered that in the event of serious infectious diseases requires their timely and proper treatment of using traditional medicine. Non-compliance with prescriptions prescribed by a doctor or self-medication can lead to complications in the cardiovascular system.
acquires as a vaccine against such infectious diseases as influenza, rubella, diphtheria. With frequent catarrhal diseases, indicating a decrease in immunity, and allergic manifestations, a test is recommended from an allergist-immunologist. When detecting immune disorders, immunomodulators, vitamins and antioxidants are used.
Significant replacement of muscle connective tissue, leads to disability and progression of heart failure .
If the disease does not cause disturbances in the rhythm of the heart and blood circulation, its course is more favorable.
The prognosis worsens with the appearance of atrial fibrillation, circulatory insufficiency, the presence of an aneurysm of the heart.
The asymptomatic course at the initial stage and the impossibility of regression of scar tissue puts on the first place not the timely treatment, but the necessary prevention of this disease.
